Machine for packing matches.



E. J. YOUNG & J. H. WEAVER.

MACHINE FOB. PACKING MATCHES.

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E. J. YOUNG & J. H. WEAVER.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

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E. J.- YOUNG & J. H. WEAVER.

MACHINE FOR PACKING MATCHES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 190B.

Patented NOV. 17, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN J. YOUNG AND JAMES H. WEAVER,

OF WADSWORTH, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO THE OHIO MATCH COMPANY, OF WADSWORTH, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

MACHINE FOR PACKING MATCHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWIN J. YOUNG and JAMES H. I/VEAVER, citizens of the United States, residing at IVadsworth, in the county of Medina and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Packing Matches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip- 111011.

The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the matches as they are discharged from the endless carrier of a continuous match-making machine, oras they come in finished state from any kind of match-making machine, are collected and conveyed to the trays of boxes with the heads arranged in opposite directions, so as to insure a level filling of the boxes. suance of this object, the matches are discharged into a hopper which is rapidly reciprocated lengthwise of itself and transversely to the length of the matches, and this hopper is inclined toward its discharge end. Empty box trays are fed beneath the hopper and are partly filled therefrom, the matches being arranged in the trays with their heads all one way, and when a sufficient quantity, say a half, of the matches are thus deposited, the tray is advanced to a turning device, whereby the tray is turned end-for-end and forwarded to another discharge point in the hopper and the remainder of the matches necessary to fill the tray deposited in the tray, with their heads arranged in the opposite direction, so that the full quantity of matches may be placed in each box and piled up evenly. In this invention provision is made for obtaining a high rate of vibration of the hopper so as to feed the matches to the discharge points, and provision is also made for controlling the feed of box trays to be filled and for automatically controlling the periodicity of movement of the box tray turning device, all substantially as hereinafter more particularly set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a front elevation, but omitting the box supplying mechanism. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the turning device with the adjacent hopper in horizontal section. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the driven In purl gear of the turning device. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the driving gear of the turning device.

The frame 1, shown in dotted outline, may be part of the frame of a continuous matchmaking machine of the general character illustrated in the Vfeaver and Laux Patent No. 851,848 dated April 30, 1907.

As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, there is a table or shelf 2 located across the front just below the point of discharge of the finished matches. On this table are guide standards 3 and 4: on which is placed a hopper 5, having a bottom inclined downwardly from the receiving end to the discharging end. As shown, this hopper has its upper or higher end located opposite the match discharge point of the machine, the part indicated at 6 being one of the plates carrying the matches, and from which plate the matches are discharged into the hopper, as represented by the dotted lines in the hopper. This hopper is provided with a discharge opening at 7, which is supplied with a gate 8, and at its extreme lower end it is provided with another discharge opening 9 which is also provided with a gate 10.

From the bottom of the hopper depends a guide block 11, having in it a sliding box 12, and this sliding box receives the eccentric end 13 of a vertical shaft 14, mounted in a housing 15, attached to the underside of the table 2. The shaft 14 bears on its end a bevel gear 16, and this bevel gear meshes with a bevel gear 17 on the end of a shaft 18, which is mounted in hangers 19 depending from beneath the table 2. The driving shaft 20 is mounted in hearings in brackets 21 attached to the main frame 1. The driving shaft has a relatively slow speed, and it is highly desirable to impart a high speed to the shaft 18. But in those machines where space is not available for large gears, some sort of speed increasing gearing is necessary, and one form of such gearing is shown in Fig. 1, and comprises a relatively large gear wheel 22 fast on shaft 20 meshing with a relatively small gear wheel 28 loose on shaft 18 and held in place thereon by the collar 24. Gear Wheel 23 is pinned to a larger gear wheel 25 so that these two gear wheels 23 and 25 run loose or free-on the shaft 18. The gear wheel 25 meshes with a relatively small gear wheel 26 on the shaft 20 and this gear wheel 26 is pinned to a gear wheel 27 also on shaft 20, and these two gear wheels 26 and 27 run loose on the shaft 20, they being held in place thereon by means of a collar 28. The gear wheel 27 meshes with a relatively small gear wheel 29 fast on shaft 18. By such means or by other equivalent means formultiplying speed, the relatively slow speed of the shaft 20 is converted into a relatively fast speed of the shaft 18, and this shaft communicates a rapid vibrating motion through gears 17 and 16 and shaft 14 to the hopper.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a table 30 extends out from the table 2 at right angles thereto and is supplied with a belt or conveyer 31 mounted upon drums 32, and this conveyer is driven in any suitable way, as by a belt 33, deriving its motion from a pulley 34 on the shaft 20. This shaft 20 may also have a drive pulley 34*. On this belt 31 the box trays 35 are mounted transversely so as to be fed onto the table 2 lengthwise. The table 2 is provided with a plunger 36 having a grooved projection 37 extending below the table, and this grooved projection is engaged by a cam-rib 38 on a drum 39 which is mounted on a shaft 40 having its bearings in one of the brackets 21 and in a hanger 41 depending from the table 2. This drum 39 is provided with a change gear 42, and a shifting idler 43 is mounted upon a lever 44 which is pivoted upon an extension 45 of the shaft 20, so that the said idler 43 may be moved from one of the gear wheels 42 to another in accordance with the desired variation in the speed of the drum. On the extension 45 of shaft 20 is a wide faced gear wheel 46 which drives the idler 43 and which idler communicates the motion to the change gear 42. Of course, any form of change gear may be employed to regulate the speed of the drum, and, consequently, the rapidity of feed of the plunger and the parts now to be described.

As the plunger is moved back and forth, it takes one of the box trays from the conveyer 31 and advances it on the table 2 beneath the hopper and beneath the first opening 7 in said hopper where it receives a partial load of matches, and then the plunger recedes and takes another box tray and pushes it against the first one so as to advance the first box tray beyond the opening 7, and in doing so a projection 47 on the plunger temporarily closes the gate 8 while the trays are being advanced, and finally the first mentioned tray is advanced to a point where it is immediately behind the last discharge opening 9, and at that point is a box turning device, shown as a circular turntable 48, mounted in the table 2 upon a shaft 49 which is supported in a housing 50. The shaft 49 has a mutilated gear wheel 51 which is engaged by a complementally mutilated gear wheel 52 on the end of the shaft 40. These gears 51 and 52 are so constructed as to impart to the turntable a half revolution and then to lock the table in the given position. The turntable has guards 53 rising from it, and these guards are so arranged that their leading ends 54 enable them to push back any encroaching box trays and retain between theirparallel faces the tray that may be directly over the table, and to turn it end-forend so that the heads of the matches will occupy an opposite position on the turntable from that which they occupy in the passage of the tray beneath the first discharge opening 7. l/Vhen the next tray is applied to the table 2 and pushed forward, the box on the turn-table is pushed beneath the final opening 9 and the matches discharged thereinto with their heads in the direction opposite to the heads of the first inducted matches. The result is, as already stated, that the matches are filled into the trays in a level and even manner, and the trays are completely filled with matches.

It will be observed especially from Fig. 1, that the sides of the hopper 5 at about a point just in advance of the place where the trays are introduced onto the table 2, extend down to the table, and thus form a guide for the trays as they are successively pushed forward beneath the hopper and are being filled. Any suitable provision may be made for holding down these sides, as by Hanging their bottoms and placing cleats iio matches are discharged directly from the H match machine and extending thence away from the match machine and having discharge openings in the bottom of such ex tended portion, means to maintain said hopper in rapid continuous length wise bodily reciprocation during the running of the match machine, and means to feed the box trays automatically to such openings.

2. In a machine for packing matches, an inclined hopper arranged adjacent to the match ejecting or discharging mechanism of a match machine and having a lateral extension away from such match machine provided with bottom openings, means for imparting continuously a rapid longitudinal reciprocation to the said hopper, and autoheads in one direction in one portion of the tray and with their heads in the other direction in another portion of the tray.

4. In a machine for packing matches, the combination of a reciprocating hopper having two discharge openings, means to feed box trays periodically to said discharge openings, and a turning device arranged between the discharge openings and adapted to receive a partially filled tray and turn it end-for-end and permit it to be delivered to I. the final discharge opening.

5. In a machine for packing matches, a reciprocating hopper having discharge openings located at different points in its length, means to feed box trays successively from one opening to the other, and an interposed tray turning device having guards which clear away the trays in advance and behind it so as to turn end-for-end only that tray which for the time being is wholly upon said turning device.

6. In a match packing machine, a hopper having discharge openings at difierent points in its length, means to feed'box trays beneath said hopper, means to advance the box trays beneath said hopper, a turning device arranged between the discharge openings and adapted to take a partly filled box tray and turn it end-for-end, and a change gear for regulating the speed of the tray feeding and the tray turning devices.

7. In a machine for packing matches, the combination of an inclined reciprocating hopper having its higher end elevated above the table and its lower end laterally extended and provided with two discharge openings at different places in its length, a table on which said hopper is mounted and down to the level of which the sides of its extended portion reach to form a guide for the box trays, means to feed box trays successively beneath the elevated end of the hopper, and means to feed such box trays into and through said guide.

8. In a machine for packing matches, the combination of a reciprocating hopper having two discharge openings at different places in its length, a table on which said hopper is mounted and down to the level of which its sides extend for a portion of the length of the hopper to form a guide for the box trays, means to feed box trays successively beneath the hopper into said guide, and a turning device arranged between the discharge openings and adapted to receive a partially filled tray and turn it end-for-end and permit it to be delivered to the final discharge opening.

, In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands this 7th day of March A. D.

EDWIN J. YOUNG. JAMES H. WEAVER. Witnesses:

MARY WEAVER, ETHEL G. KOSHT. 

